More Smiles!

Love my Big Girl


and my Little one!

Date Night!

Last weekend, Joel and I were fortunate enough to be able to have a night out. Its been a really long time since we've had a date and we enjoyed every second of it.

My parents came down for the night (THANK YOU) and the girls loved every second of it (me too of course). Ruthie really loved (and I think needed) the additional attention
and time with Papa and Gigi. Lainie also loved being held.

Joel's work had their Christmas party which was dinner and dancing and we stayed until midnight! I can't remember the last time we stayed out until midnight, but we had so much fun. It was fun to get all dressed up and just hang out with my favorite guy and not chase around anyone. We snapped a picture of the four of us since we were all showered and dressed (a rare occurrence these days).

Thank you again Gigi and Papa, we had a great time!

Faces of Lainie

Lainie is a very easy going baby. She makes such cute faces and as of 5 weeks old started smiling back at us. It's pretty much the greatest thing I've ever seen (next to Ruthie smiling of course). I haven't gotten a straight on full smile picture, but here is the closest I've gotten on camera. This picture cracks me up! I love that double chin.Here are a few of her faces

Her lungs work!

Other than blue eyes, she's not looking anything like her Daddy (or Ruthie for that matter!).

Just like Mommy

I'm loving the Mommy phase Ruthie is in right now. She loves to hug and kiss Lainie (or Nay Nay), and of course carry her own baby's. Too cute! And for good measure, here's a picture of our big (little) girl!

Christmas Tree Lighting 2011

Last year we took Ruthie, dressed as a cow, (a lot can change in one year!!)
to our towns Christmas tree lighting. We had a great time and I knew I really wanted to take both girls this year.

We planned a really fun day with Grandma and Grandpa, and our awesome friends, Chelsey, Dan and Callie. The guys spent the day out fishing, and the girls had a fun playdate.

We decided to have an oyster roast and had a great dinner of oysters, clam chowder, a delicious crab chowder Chelsey made, and scallops. It was awesome.

We thought we were late for the tree lighting, and after listening to the mayor talk to 15 minutes (after the tree was supposed to light), we were glad we weren't early. I think next year, I'm going to take my squirmy toddler up and let him hold her while he thanks everyone he's ever met :-).

Anyways, once the tree was lit, Ruthie absolutely loved it. It was really nice because it wasn't as dark and Ruthie could run around. And did. she. ever.

Remember, this post. Years ago, I said I would never put my child on a leash.

It keeps proving true. Never is the magic word.

A leash was made for me in situations like this tree lighting with a baby and an 18 month old. We could hardly keep up with Ruthie running at full speed continuously. She was wild and It was hilarious.

She was beside herself when she spotted this dog.

We snagged a few family pictures and headed home. It was a great night and I love this family tradition!

My Little Lainie-Month 1

Jacki, I need some help with a creative title :-)

I absolutely can't believe Lainie came into the world a full month ago. Life is in superspeed now and we're just trying to soak up every minute!

Lainie has been an absolute joy to have around this month. She is starting to wake up and be very bright eyed. She has some great alert periods. At this point, I'm going to guess her eyes are going to be blue. They are much lighter than Ruthie's were at this stage, but I know we won't know for months.

As much as it shocks me, she does not look like Ruthie or Joel. She has my skin color and to me, at this point, she looks the most like my sister, her Aunt Nana. I don't have a picture that shows that, but I'm working on it.

She is a fantastic eater and I couldn't be more thankful.

At Birth: 7 pounds

3 days old: 7 pounds 1 ounce

2 weeks old: 8 pounds 1 ounce

4 weeks old: We weighed her on our (probably somewhat inaccurate) scale with Joel holding her and each time it put her at 9 pounds 8 ounces! I really think it took Ruthie over three months to get as big as Lainie is (even if the scale is somewhat off). Its amazing how fast she is growing.

The pediatrician told us the goal at their two week appointment was to be back to their birthweight so the fact that she had gained a pound over that, we were thrilled!

She eats about every three hours. The first two weeks, I fed her on demand and then went into the babywise plan and man that makes such a difference for us. I think I would lose my mind if I didn't have a schedule.

Daytime Sleep:

She's doing great. We're getting into our routine and the past few days have been right on schedule. She is sleeping the last 1 1/2-2 hours of each three hour block.

Nighttime sleep:

She's a newborn. One of my sweet friends let me borrow her cosleeper and wow, it is awesome. I wish Lainie was in her crib like Ruthie was, but I've gotta sleep and it is so much nicer to reach over and pick her up and not have to walk across the room. I realize how lazy that sounds, but it is what it is. At night, she sleeps from about 10pm-4am (waking to eat once, but not actually waking up), but the 4am time period is when she wants to hang out. All in all, I think she's doing great sleeping and while I'm tired, there have only been a few days when my eyes felt crossed.

Swaddled:

Yes Please. At first we thought she hated the miracle blanket, but now I swaddle her and put her down and she calms much quicker. I love that thing.

Paci:

Oh Yeah. Apparently we have paci-loving girls! I'm using the MAM paci's with Lainie and the Nuk with Ruthie. I wanted them to be different so when its time for Ruthie to say bye bye to the paci, it would be less confusing. I hope it works!

She loves:

The swing, thank the Lord.

The paci, swaddler, being held, being held upright and having her back patted (Ruthie likes to help with this). She also loves having her forehead rubbed and moving around.

She doesn't love:

-bathtime, but its getting better. Ruthie helped me bathe her yesterday and it was so cute!

-laying on her back awake, which I guess is fine, since she needs to be on her tummy awake anyways.

Other:

Her hair is starting to fall out on top. It has a lighter look and in some pictures has a reddish tint. I don't see it as much in person but we'll see!

It seems silly to put her firsts, since everything has been a first, but she went to her first Christmas tree lighting

and got to meet lots of people. She met good friends

her cousin Will and Aunt Nana

Robin and Ron

Gigi and Papa

Grandma and Grandpa

and lots of other people

Overall, this first month has been great. Lainie is a great baby and we love having her around. I love my girls!

Slacker

I've been such a slacker lately with the blog. Its not that I don't have time for it, but the time I can sit down and blog I'm either cleaning up (more on that in another post), sleeping (man I can go out like a light now in about 2 seconds) or enjoying time with Joel (something I treasure, even if its just for 5 minutes when both girls are asleep).

We're doing great around here, today marks Lainies 4 week birthday which I can't believe. She is an absolute joy to have around and we all love her. Ruthie is the sweetest big sister and has done great. I have a one month post coming up (on the 2nd), but for now here are a few pictures

Not hating tummy time....yet!

Walking her favorite dog!

Thanks Jacki!! We love the Big Sis shirt!

Sweet, sweet baby

Oh I love

That sweet Lainie loves the swing!

Ruthie didn't want anything to do with it and wow is it nice! If we could get her to love the crib equally as much we would be set!

Whats going on at our house this week

There's lots of this

and this

and this

Not a bad week!

99% sure means 100% unsure

I've had a few people ask me about the spelling of Lainie's name, since I posted earlier that we were 99% sure on the spelling, Lainey.

While we were in the hospital the morning of Lainie's birth, as I mentioned we had hours before anything happened to get the antibiotics. Thankfully in our room, there was a dry erase board and markers. We spent about an hour writing her name in many different ways and when Joel mentioned he was leaning towards Lainie, we were done.

We had a great time doing this because Joel and I are both terrible at writing grin cursive. When Joel would write Lainey in cursive, it turned into Lainarny. When I would write it, I don't even think it was legible enough to say anything. It was hilarious to us and a good way to pass the time.

After we decided on Lainie, it just fit and seemed like she should have always been Lainie, thankfully. I was glad when the social security lady came and we could make it official!

There you have it, Lainie it is!